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2 Reviews
The Val Lewton Collection is an essential cinematic experience!
A movie fans Garden of Earthly Delights! Those who have never seen the transformation Val Lewton brought to the B-movies of the 1940's are in for a real experience. Given really bad titles to work with by his studio, he magically transformed them into tales of psychological terror which, except for a few examples in the 50's, like Curse of the Demon, by Val Lewton disciple Jacques Tourneur, would not be seen again until Hitchcock's Psycho. The highlight was, of course Cat People, followed by I Walked with A Zombie. But the range of story line, the depth of character he brought to the actors, especially Karloff, who had been sadly typecast by Universal, show a visual power... a mastery of medium second only to Welles.
Some would say that his style of storytelling has more than a hint of the pulp fiction of the times. Lewton did write for the pulps in his early years. However,as a put down, it would reflect a lack of knowledge of the pulps. Edgar Wallace, a pulp writer, wrote King Kong. H. P. Lovecraft wrote for the pulps. I would recommend reading either before looking down on the genre. Find some Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore while your at it.
Val Lewton was driven to his best by his pulp background.
He was a pioneer in a form of cinema that, while greatly influential in the history of the medium, has barely been realized in its potential.Read full review...
Fantastic collection! by great writer/producer
Val Lewton, as a producer at RKO, was given titles deemed by the bean counters to be marketable. Using considerable writing skills, creativity, and some of the best use of light and shadow in the era, he took a title like "I Walked with a Zombie" and made it a loose and atmospheric retelling of Jane Eyre set in rural Haiti. He took the sequel to Cat People and made a film so psychologically compelling, it is still being taught in physchology classes today. Anyone who sees this work and notes the beauty of composition should recognize the work of a master whose budgetery limitations only progeRead full review...